Steve Rogers (Earth-11584)
History "I don't want to kill anyone. But I don't want anyone to die either. If I see a situation going south where people are going to be hurt, then I'm going to be there trying to stop it." 'Steven Grant "Steve" Rogers '''was born in 1918 to Joseph and Sarah Rogers during the height of World War I. Tragedy struck early in his life, as Steven's father, Joseph, was killed in action during the war just a few weeks after his birth. This meant that Sarah was left to raise her only child by herself, with little to no education of her own. She performed odd jobs as a seamstress in Brooklyn New York, the only work she was qualified to do. From a young age it was clear that Rogers was beset with numerous health difficulties. Always smaller than the rest of the kids his age and physically weaker, Rogers was picked on relentlessly by the neighborhood bullies. Rather than internalize this anger, though, it molded Rogers' moral compass into a practically unchangeable one, and made him detest bullies in all forms. The one respite he had from bullying was another neighborhood kid, a year older than him, by the name of James Buchanan Barnes, who went by the nickname of Bucky. Barnes and Rogers became the best of friends, spending much of their free time together, with Rogers helping the intellectually slower Barnes with his homework and Barnes sticking up for Rogers and helping Sarah Rogers with odd jobs around the house. In 1939, Sarah Rogers died of tuberculosis, leaving Steve a poor art college student on his own. Barnes offered to have Steve move in with him, but Rogers refused, saying that he could make it on his own. Barnes replied that he didn't have to, and that Barnes was with him to the end of the line. This devotion would stay with Rogers the remainder of his life. In 1941, both Barnes and Rogers were having a fun day out at Coney Island (visiting a girl named Dolores whom Barnes was dating at the time) when they learned of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Like many young men at the time, Barnes and Rogers were patriotically motivated to immediately join the Armed Forces and enlist. Barnes was immediately accepted, but due to Rogers' various health conditions, he was rejected. Despondant at possibly not being able to serve, Rogers (with Barnes' help) looked for other ways he might serve on the homefront, but also continued to try and enlist using falsified documents. After Barnes was shipped off to North Africa, Rogers' continued fake enlistment attempts seemed to get him in criminal trouble, as he was taken out of line by MP's. However, he was brought before Dr. Abraham Erskine, who after a few questions about why Rogers was so intent on enlisting, gave him an opportunity to serve with the SSR through Project Rebirth. Boot Camp was backbreaking for Rogers, as he struggled to keep up with even the simplest of tasks. He was often ridiculed by many of the other recruits and physically harassed as well. He did find friendship in a female agent of the SSR named Peggy Carter, who also seemed to respect his drive and determination. Rogers' commanding officer, General Chester Phillips, had little use for a soldier who couldn't perform basic functions, however, and was not happy with the idea of Rogers being chosen for the new Super Soldier project. He attempted to display his preference for another soldier with a test of bravery, throwing an apparently live grenade into the ground. To his surprise, Rogers immediately dived on the grenade to protect others from the explosion.This earned Rogers Phillips' respect, and he permitted Erskine to use him in the test for the Super Soldier Serum. The night before the procedure, Rogers was told why he was the ideal candidate by Dr. Erskine, and told of Johann Schmidt, the first man who had tested Erskine's formula before he defected to the Allies. He was told that in the end, the power the serum grants is only good or evil depending on the hands of the man who uses it, and a good man is more important than a good soldier. The following morning, Rogers was taken to an underground lab in Brooklyn by Agent Carter, where members of the State Department, Army, and other military brass were assembled to watch the test. Rogers was subjected to both the serum and Vita-Ray radiation, a discovery of the great Howard Stark. When the procedure was completed, Rogers had been radically transformed from a skinny weakling to a tall, muscular specimen. While everyone was congratulating themselves, Heinz Kruger, posing as a state department employee, snuck into the lab and murdered Dr. Erskine while also stealing a sample of the serum. Rogers displayed his newfound strength and speed, chasing down Kruger through the streets of Brooklyn on foot and intercepting a HYDRA submarine as it was trying to leave the harbor. He captured Kruger, who promptly bit down on a cyanide capsule to avoid being interrogated. He also deliberately destroyed the one remaining container of the Super Soldier Serum, ensuring the formula died with Erskine. General Phillips decided at that point to take the war to HYDRA, ordering Agent Carter and Howard Stark to travel to Europe that night. When Steve asked to join, Phillips said he was requisitioning him to the laboratory in Alamagordo, in order to try and unlock the secret of Erskine's formula. Despondant, Rogers was intercepted by Senator Bob Stern, who convinced Steve to serve in a "different capacity." Granting him a "promotion" to the rank of Captain and dressing him up in a costume, Steve became the character Captain America, traveling the country to sell war bonds and raise morale. Though Rogers became somewhat starstruck with his role, he was brought back to Earth when he traveled to Italy a year later to perform with the USO, and got a negative reception from the troops there (including some of the recruits he had been trained with, who didn't know it was him). Worse yet, he was told that the 107th Infantry Regiment, Bucky Barnes group, had been decimated in a recent incursion with HYDRA. A conversation with General Phillips didn't get him any closer to trying to save them either, as any survivors were being held thirty miles behind enemy lines. Rogers felt helpless, but reconnected with Agent Carter. When he explained what Bucky meant to him as a brother, Carter agreed to help him conduct a rescue mission of his own, enlisting Howard Stark to fly them behind enemy lines. Rogers infiltrated the HYDRA base and freed most of the soldiers who had been captured, including Gabriel Fury and Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan (as well as Joseph Danvers, the future grandfather of Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers). While those soldiers set out to cause a massive prison break, Rogers continued looking for Barnes, finding him in a laboratory being experimented upon by Dr. Arnim Zola. Freeing Barnes, Rogers and he made their escape from the exploding base, only to make contact with Joahnn Schmidt, who revealed his alter-ego of the Red Skull (his disfigurement the extra side effect of his use of Erskine's formula). After a brief skirmish, Schmidt escaped in an aircraft, and Rogers and Barnes joined the surviving soldiers on a march back to the base camp in Italy. Upon his arrival, Rogers submitted himself for disciplinary action to General Phillips, who decided it would not be necessary given his actions. For his efforts, Rogers was given a real promotion to the rank of Captain, allowed to assemble his own platoon called the Howling Commandos (of which Bucky was a member) and pulled off the USO show and sent to fight HYDRA across Europe. Captain America and the Howling Commandos became a virtual wrecking machine against HYDRA, though their exploits were not disseminated to the general public. They destroyed several HYDRA bases throughout Europe, with each member of the platoon displaying a fighting prowess unique to themselves. For his efforts, Cap was given a special shield from Howard Stark, made out of a metal called Vibranium (though Stark was mum on how he had obtained it himself). In a few months, HYDRA was on the ropes and Captain America was closing in. They learned of a train carrying one of the top scientific advisors to HYDRA, Dr. Arnim Zola. Upon assaulting the train, though, they discovered that it was a trap set by Zola himself under orders from the Red Skull. Rogers beat back the ambush, capturing Zola alive, though at great personal cost as his best friend Bucky seemingly fell to his death. Blaming himself for Bucky's death, Rogers tried to drown his sorrows. He was eventually brought back to himself by Gabriel Fury as well as his relationship with Agent Carter, which was growing stronger. The two eventually promised to finish a dance they started after the war. After interrogating Zola, General Phillips learned of the location of Schmidt's personal base in the Alps. Rogers and the Howling Commandos spearheaded a campaign to attack the base, especially after they learned of an impending long range airstrike that would devastate the US Eastern seaboard. Rogers feigned his capture to allow the rest of the Commandos to catch the HYDRA soldiers off guard, which then led to the Red Skull attempting to escape on the Airship ''Valkyrie. Rogers prevented the mini-bombers from launching from the larger ship and then fought the Red Skull in the cockpit of the plane. During the course of the battle, the Tesseract fell out of its housing and into the hands of the Red Skull. Upon touching it, he was transported to another place in the universe, seemingly to his death. Seeing that the plane was still headed to bomb New York, Rogers made the decision to crash the plane in the frozen north of Greenland, telling Agent Carter over the radio that he would have to "postpone their date." He crashed the plane and plunged into the sub-zero temperatures. The sudden shock combined with his super soldier serum-infused body had the effect of placing Cap into a state of suspended animation. After the war, the United States classified all knowledge of Capt. Rogers and his missions, treating Captain America as nothing more than a fictional propaganda tool, swearing all those who knew him to secrecy. Howard Stark spent a small fortune trying to locate Rogers, but never managed to do so (though he did find the Tesseract, which had fallen from the plane). Eventually Agent Carter even moved on, marrying another man and starting a family with him. Almost 70 years later, a Russian submarine operating under the ice of Greenland found the wreckage of the Valkyrie. SHIELD investigated and found the frozen body of Captain America. After some debate, Nick Fury (the grandson of Howling Commando Gabriel Fury) gave the order to defrost the Captain, but to break the knowledge of his long sleep to him slowly. Rogers awoke in a room, seemingly back in New York, made to look like 1945. However, the baseball game playing on the radio was one from 1941, one that Rogers had attended with Bucky. Upon realizing the ruse, Rogers broke out of the holding area and stumbled into the middle of modern day Times Square, where he was confronted by Nick Fury, telling him the truth of his suspended animation. Rogers came to realize that it was likely everyone he knew was potentially dead, lamenting the fact that he never got to make his date. Sometime later, Rogers was taking his frustration out on a punching bag when he was approached by Fury and Agent Phil Coulson. They spoke of the Tesseract and the fact that Taskmaster and Loki had stolen it, recruiting Rogers into a program known as the Avengers Initiative. Rogers was taken to the SHIELD Helicarrier, where he met SHIELD agents Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff, as well as Dr. Bruce Banner. After seeing the Helicarrier take off (and losing a bet to Nick Fury over not being surprised by anything), Rogers was assigned to a mission to hunt down Loki, who had kidnapped Dr. Erik Selvig and stolen the Tesseract. Rogers accompanied Romanoff and Barton to Stuggart Germany, apprehending the God of Mischief with the help of Tony Stark. En route back to the Helicarrier, Loki was captured by the Asgardian Thor. After Stark and Thor had a brief battle, Rogers interceded and brought them back on the mission that mattered, Loki and the Tesseract. He also displayed the power of his shield, as it withstood a full blow from Mjolnir, unharmed, leveling a small forest from the impact shockwave. Back on the Helicarrier, Rogers met with Stark officially and learned of Howard's long time search to try and find him in the ice. He also was enticed by Stark and Banner to take a closer look at why SHIELD was so interested in the Tesseract in the first place. After doing some searching, Cap discovered that the true purpose of the Tesseract was to try and duplicate the weaponry that HYDRA had created during the second world war. Upon confronting Fury and the rest of the team with this knowledge, an argument broke out amongst the various Avengers, an argument that was only broken up by an attack by Taskmaster and his group of super villains. Rogers fought with the combative Taskmaster himself, holding his own against the seasoned fighter until he was drawn away to help Tony keep the Helicarrier in the air. In the end, Taskmaster escaped with Loki, and managed to kill SHIELD agent Phil Coulson in the process. Coulson's death galvanized the Avengers, and led them to unite as a team to take on Loki's Chitauri allies in the Battle of New York. Rogers showed his military style leadership at handling the crisis, coordinating both the Avengers attack patterns as well as search and rescue operations on the ground with NYPD. Following the conclusion of the Battle, which saw Loki captured and the Tesseract in the hands of the Asgardians, Rogers agreed to join SHIELD as a field agent. He was given command of his own task force known as the STRIKE team, which also consisted of longtime SHIELD agent Brock Rumlow. Rogers settled in Washington D.C., getting an apartment there, and trying to catch up on all the events he had missed over the last 70 years. He also reconnected with an aged Peggy Carter, finding her battling dementia. However, he would visit her as frequently in her Georgetown apartment as much as he could. One day, while out for a morning run around the National Mall, Rogers also ran into a former paratrooper by the name of Sam Wilson. After briefly introducing themselves and discussing the problems of returning home from a war, Rogers was called into action to lead his STRIKE team, picked up by Black Widow. STRIKE was sent to a ship known as the Lumerian Star, which had been hijacked by pirates led by a mercenary named Batroc. Rogers and the STRIKE team infiltrated the ship, freeing the hostages (which also included SHIELD agent Jasper Sitwell). Cap caught Black Widow downloading some form of data from the ship's mainframe, while also being enticed to fight Batroc one on one. After defeating the mercenary, Rogers attempted to interrogate him, only for Batroc to be killed by Rumlow before he could do so. Discouraged, Rogers return to the US looking for answers from SHIELD director Nick Fury. Rogers demanded to know why Romanoff and Rumlow seemed to have separate missions from his own. Fury says that sometimes you have to keep things compartmentalized and secret, and that the only way secrets stay secret is if no one knows them...except for you. Rogers is taken aback by this phrase, as it was once told to him by Gabriel Fury. Nick admits that Gabriel was his grandfather, and then tells a story about his grandfather's time after the war. He leads Rogers to the basement of the Triskellion, where three large helicarriers are in the process of being completed, a part of something called Project Insight, which will allow for early threat neutralization. Rogers decries these methods as fear, not freedom, and Fury tells Rogers to "get with the times" and see the world for what it really is. Despondent, Rogers goes to Peggy and speaks with her, but accidentally triggers a bout of dementia and has to endure reintroducing himself to her again. He then travels to the VA, speaking with Sam Wilson and admitting that getting back into the order of "following orders" has been difficult. Sam responds that Steve doesn't sound like a man who's looking for a reason to get out...he's looking for a reason to stay in. Shortly thereafter Steve returns to his apartment and runs into the woman next door, by the name of Sharon. Working up some courage, he asks her to get a cup of coffee some other time, to which she agrees. She then tells him that his stereo was left on, cluing in Steve that something is not quite right. He enters his apartment with trepidation, only to find a wounded Nick Fury there. Through code Fury tells Steve that SHIELD has been compromised somehow, only to be struck down by bullets fired from across the street. Fury hands Rogers a jump drive with information on it before falling unconscious. Sharon bursts into the room, announcing she is a SHIELD special agent assigned to shadow Rogers. Rogers himself goes after the shooter, barreling through the building across the street and making it to the rooftop quickly. He throws his shield at the assailant, only for him to catch it and toss it back at Cap before making his escape. Rogers looks down at the jump drive, and then heads back for the hospital, where he witnesses the apparent death of Nick Fury. Shortly thereafter Steve cornered Natasha Romanoff, asking her about her mission on the Lumerian Star and if she had anything to do with Fury's death. Widow is silent, but does say that she might know who is responsible. Before she can elaborate, Rogers is called back to the Triskellion for a meeting with acting SHIELD director and World Security Council member Alexander Pierce. Before leaving, Rogers trusts Romanoff with the jump drive that Fury left him before he died. Pierce asks Rogers why Fury was at his apartment the night before, and Cap honestly says he doesn't know. Pierce talks about recruiting Fury back in the day for SHIELD, and says that he will get to the bottom of all this. He also says that Project Insight is going to move forward as scheduled. Rogers leaves his office and enters an elevator, heading back to rendezvous with Romanoff. Other individuals, most notably Rumlow and the STRIKE team also get on the elevator with him, which eventually clues Steve into something not being right. The STRIKE team tries to capture Rogers, but Cap is able to escape and crash through the glass window to the outside. He attempts to flee on his motorcycle, but is confronted on the causeway driveup to the Triskellion by two Quinjets. However, one of the Quinjets suddenly fires on the other, turning around and allowing Rogers to drive on to it, revealing that the pilot is the Black Widow. Together, they decide to track down the origin of the data on the jump drive, which takes them back to Camp Lehigh in New Jersey. En route to the old Army encampment, Natasha informed Rogers of the story of the Winter Soldier, a KGB assassin that had been in use since the end of World War II. She admits that when she worked for Taskmaster, she had received confirmation that the Winter Soldier did exist, but that she had never seen him in person. She says that he is capable of seemingly disappearing and reappearing at will, and is likely the person who would have killed Nick Fury based on the descriptions. Steve wonders why ex-KGB would be interested in killing the director of SHIELD, especially now that Taskmaster has been captured. They ditch the Quinjet and "borrow" a truck to travel the rest of the way, unaware that they are being tracked by SHIELD. Upon reaching Camp Lehigh, they find their way into a hidden bunker that once served as a headquarters for SHIELD and find a port for the jump drive. Upon placing it in there, it activates a camera and television screen, revealing the face of Captain America's enemy, the Red Skull. Stunned to find Schmidt alive, Cap recoils in horror when he sees HYDRA is alive and well, first having been kept alive through the group AIM but also having infiltrated SHIELD itself. They fail to learn much about Project Insight itself, as Cap destroys the monitor in anger before the Red Skull can diverge much of their plans. Avoiding SHIELD patrols, both Cap and Black Widow make their way back to Washington, crashing at the home of Sam Wilson when they arrive. While there, they learn that Wilson as a pararescue had used an Exo-Flight suit codenamed Falcon. Wilson offers to help the pair capture SHIELD agent Jasper Sitwell, whom they suspect to be one of HYDRA's inside men. Upon stealing the exo-suit, though, they are attacked by the Winter Soldier at the behest of SHIELD and Alexander Pierce. In the course of the fight, Rogers learns the true identity of the Winter Soldier, that of his best friend Bucky, whom he had thought dead. The three of them are captured and taken to Sitwell and Rumlow. Sitwell tries to convince the three to join with them, but they refuse. Before they can be killed, a distraction sends Rumlow outside, and the three are rescued by former SHIELD agent Barbara Morse, who also kidnaps Rumlow. Morse, aka Mockingbird, takes the three to an off-site location where they rendezvous with Maria Hill and learn that Nick Fury is still alive. Fury explains that he faked his death so that the people behind everything would come out into the open. Rogers feels betrayed for being used, and Romanoff shares his disdain for Fury's "compartmentalizing", especially after Cap learns that Fury knew about Barnes. The group interrogates Sitwell and discovers the true purpose of Project Insight is to wipe out all of HYDRA's enemies in one fell swoop. Rogers agrees to the mission to take out the Helicarriers, taking three control chips to override the algorithim at the center of Insight's operations. After speaking with Wilson about his and Barnes' friendship, Rogers steals his old uniform from an exhibit at the Smithsonian and goes after the Insight carriers. He gives a speech to the assembled forces of SHIELD on the day of the launch, causing many of the SHIELD agents inside (like Sharon Carter) to turn on the HYDRA forces. Together Rogers and Wilson transplant the chips in the first two carriers, while Romanoff, Hill and Morse attack the Triskellion and try to capture Alexander Pierce. Wilson is taken out by the Winter Soldier, who confronts Rogers on the third Helicarrier. Rogers seems to reach Bucky in the course of the battle, and only barely manages to replace the control chip just before the carrier becomes active, turning the three ships on each other. In the course of the ships being destroyed. Rogers attempts to save Bucky from falling into the Potomac River, but fails. He also fails to find the Red Skull, discovering that this Alexander Pierce is in fact a Life Model Decoy put in place of the real one by HYDRA. In the aftermath, Rogers and Romanoff both resign from SHIELD. Rogers and Wilson decide to go hunting for the Winter Soldier, with Steve convinced that Bucky was still alive. Sometime later, while Falcon was pursuing leads on their "missing persons case", Steve rejoined with his Avengers teammates to take out the remaining HYDRA bases as revealed by the interrogation of Jasper Sitwell, in addition hunting down the Red Skull. The final base is found in the small European country of Sokovia, where Steve and the Avengers found the long missing former director of SHIELD, Wolfgang von Strucker. They also discovered two individuals who had been somehow enhanced, as well as a staff that had energy readings similar to that of the Tesseract. Red Skull, however, had escaped their clutches again. With HYDRA seemingly destroyed, Cap and the Avengers hosted a victory party at the Avengers tower in New York, inviting some old buddies he had reconnected with from the War. After the festivities had concluded, Rogers participated in a contest with Thor to try and lift the hammer Mjolnir, in which Rogers was the only person who could even nudge the enchanted object. However the revels were interrupted by the arrival of Ultron, an Artificial Intelligence program salvaged from Strucker's research files that had taken over some of Iron Man's suits, fighting the Avengers and stealing Red Skull's scepter. After defeating the drones, Rogers and Stark argued over the latter's attempt to create artificial intelligence without telling the rest of them. They consulted with SHIELD files, learning of Baron Strucker's death and Ultron's alignment with the enhanced Maximoff twins, before stumbling upon a lead in Ulysses Klaue, an arms dealer based out of Johannesburg, who had once stolen a cache of vibranium from Wakanda. The Avengers then made their way there, hoping to stop Ultron. In Johannesburg, the Avengers come across Klaue in an abandoned oil tanker, already speaking with Ultron and the Maximoff twins. After a brief parlay of witticisms, a fight breaks out between the Avengers and the various bodies Ultron has constructed for himself. Pietro Maximoff, also known as Quicksilver, also fights against the team, as his sister Wanda afflicts them all with a disabling mind magic. Rogers himself is affected, having a flashback to his time with Peggy Carter in World War II and the fact that almost everyone he knows is dead. The flashback incapacitates most of the Avengers, leaving Tony to face with a mind-controlled Hulk in Johannesburg. After Iron Man dons the Hulkbuster armor and defeats Banner, Rogers accompanies the team to a safehouse owned by Clint Barton, where his wife Barbara Morse and his children reside. There the team lays low until they can figure out what to do. After further discussion concerning Tony's actions in creating Ultron, the two leaders of The Avengers are led to a barn where they find Nick Fury waiting for them. Much to their surprise, and Rogers' outrage, they also find the real Red Skull there, as he explains the one in Sokovia was a Life Model Decoy. Fury informs them that Red Skull has offered his support in an assault on Ultron, whenever they find where he is holed up at. Rogers refuses to have anything to do with his longtime nemesis, but Fury justifies the move as saying he is desperate to stop Ultron. Further discussion with the team clues them into the likely location of Ultron and the Maximoffs: Helen Cho's laboratory in Seoul South Korea. Cap led Hawkeye and Widow there, looking to try and capture Ultron and prevent him from building himself a new body with Dr. Cho's regeneration cradle. Upon their arrival, Rogers lost the element of surprise and found Dr. Cho nearly dead, warning him about the gem inside the cradle. He took off after Ultron, receiving some unexpected help from the Maximoff twins who had turned against the AI for unknown reasons. They managed to retrieve the body that was inside the cradle, but in the process crashed a commuter train as well as allowed Widow to be captured by Ultron. Rogers brought the cradle back to the Avengers Tower while he debriefed the Maximoff's and determined what Ultron was up to. He quickly realized, however, from talking with Wanda, that Tony would try to "perfect" his process with the android body in the cradle. Another fight broke out, this time between Iron Man and Cap as they fought over whether to create Ultron's Vision, which was Ultron's base consciousness combined with Jarvis' matrix. The argument was rendered moot when Thor broke into the lab and powered the cradle himself, finishing the process of creating Vision. Thor informed them that the gem the Vision carried was the Mind Stone, one of the Infinity Stones as the Tesseract was. Vision informed them of Ultron's plans, to destroy all human life with a machine created in Sokovia, where he was also holding Black Widow. The team traveled to Sokovia to confront Ultron. HYDRA and SHIELD forces engaged many of Ultron's bodies while the Avengers evacuated the city, found Widow and confronted Ultron's main machine, which was a variation of Tesla's famous earthquake machine. Through sheer effort, the team was able to destroy the machine before it could fully power up and generate tremors that would tear apart the tectonic plates. They managed to destroy all of the Ultron duplicates (including the last one destroyed by Vision) and rescue most of Sokovia from destruction, even though Red Skull managed to get away after attempting to seize control of the SHIELD helicarrier, and Hulk had similarly disappeared. In the aftermath of the Battle of Sokovia, Captain America became the field commander of the Avengers, with Iron Man and Hawkeye both leaving the team. Thor traveled to Asgard to learn more about the Infinity Stones. The new Avengers consisted of War Machine, Wonder Man, Falcon, Vision & The Maximoffs along with Widow and Cap. However, for his actions, Nick Fury was replaced as director of SHIELD by Thaddeus Thunderbolt Ross. Cap continued to work with the Avengers for the next year, leading them on several missions to take down international arms dealers. On one such mission in Alexandria, Egypt, Steve led the Avengers to rescue a group of hostages from a terrorist organization. The situation however went sideways, resulting in catastrophic collateral damage inadvertently caused by Wanda Maximoff, and also resulted in the deaths of several Wakandan diplomats. As a result, US President Matthew Ellis, SHIELD director Thaddeus Ross and surprisingly Tony Stark drafted a series of accords colloquially known as the Avengers Protocol, which put the Avengers (thus far a largely private organization) and other super powered individuals such as the Fantastic Four directly under the supervision of SHIELD. There was heavy internal debate over the Accords, with ultimately the Maximoffs, Falcon and Rogers disagreeing with the Protocols and Stark, War Machine, Black Widow, Wonder Man and Vision agreeing with them. Before any final resolution could be made, Rogers received word that Peggy Carter had died peacefully in her sleep. At her funeral in London, Rogers reconnected with Sharon Carter, Peggy's niece, who was now working for the CIA. It was a day later, in Vienna, when the Protocols were signed officially at a UN function. That conference however was attacked, seemingly by the Winter Soldier, resulting in the death of Wakandan king T'Chaka and several other diplomats. Rogers and Wilson immediately went after Sgt. Barnes, hoping to find him before the rest of the world could. The two tracked down Barnes in Budapest, with the former Winter Soldier not remembering any of his actions in Vienna. Before Rogers could try and talk him into going in their custody, the group was first assaulted by a strike team of policeman, and then by a masked vigilante in a Vibranium laced suit. A large car chase ensued, with eventually Barnes, Rogers and Wilson being captured by War Machine and Wonder Man, the two taken into custody for violation of the Avengers Protocol, and Barnes taken in for his apparent actions in Vienna. While in custody, Tony Stark again tried to get Rogers on board with the Protocols, and nearly succeeded until he mentioned that the Maximoff's were being held at the Avengers compound in New York against their will for the moment. Cap again refused to sign, with Stark telling him it meant he would go to jail. Before being taken further into custody though, a psychological evaluation was performed on Barnes. Unfortunately the psychologist sent was actually Helmut Zemo, a former Sokovian intelligence analyst. Zemo used code words to activate Barnes' subliminal programming, setting the Winter Soldier on the loose inside the facility. Rogers chased after him as he attempted to escape, both of them eluding capture both from Stark as well as Black Panther, who was eventually revealed to be the son of the deceased King T'Chaka, Prince T'Challa. Later, Rogers and Sam Wilson caught up with Barnes, who explained that Zemo was likely after other Winter Soldiers that had been created using the same process that created him. Knowing they needed to stop Zemo, Rogers called in some favors and assembled a team including himself, Barnes, Falcon, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch and Ant-Man. The group traveled to the Budapest airport to intercept Zemo in Siberia. However, they themselves are intercepted by a separate team led by Iron Man, and consisting of War Machine, Black Widow, Black Panther, Wonder Man, Vision and Spider-Man. The Battle at the Budapest Airport became the flashpoint of the Avengers Civil War, with both sides fighting fearlessly to either get to the Quinjet to stop Zemo, or trying to prevent them from doing so. Eventually, Rogers and Barnes were able to breakthrough due to the self-sacrifice of the rest of their team. Once they arrived at the hangar, they ran into Black Widow who threatened to stop them. However at the last moment, Natasha switched sides and prevented Black Panther from intercepting the two, and allowing them to take off. To his chagrin, Steve watches helplessly as War Machine is inadvertently shot from the sky and crash lands. The two old friend speak on the responsibility that Barnes feels for his actions while under HYDRA and the KGB's control. The two make their way to Siberia, landing just outside the bunker where Barnes had been kept. They find the door already open, and thus prepare for battle with potentially 5 more super soldiers. They are quickly joined, however, by Iron Man and Black Panther, with Tony admitting that Steve was right about Zemo and that they need the help. They enter a large lab and find to their surprise that the five super soldiers have already been killed by Zemo. Zemo instead shows the group file footage of an incident in 1991, where the Winter Soldier had been commissioned to kill Howard and Maria Stark. Upon learning of Barnes' complicity in the deaths of his parents (as well as Steve's unspoken suspicion of such) caused Tony to attack Barnes, with Cap trying to save him. After a lengthy fight, Steve managed to disable Tony's armor and take Barnes (who had his cybernetic arm ripped off) away with him. Tony yelled out to Steve that he "doesn't deserve that Shield," which causes Cap to leave it behind, abandoning the moniker of Captain America in the process. Cap took Bucky to Wakanda, at the invitation of Prince T'Challa, who had forgiven the Winter Soldier for his role in Vienna. After seeing his friend cryogenically frozen again, Rogers departed the secretive African country. Within a couple of weeks, word reached Tony that there had been a jailbreak at the Raft prison, with Steve breaking out all those who had been captured in Budapest. Despite Clint and Scott Lang making deals with SHIELD for house arrest, Quicksilver, Falcon and Scarlet Witch remained at large as fugitives with Steve Rogers, performing the Avengers original mission outside the law as the Secret Avengers. The group ran several operations in the years following the Avengers Civil War, primarily focused in Europe and Central Asia. Steve attempted to reconcile with Tony, however broke off all attempts following the Sakaaran Incident and the revelation of Tony's actions against Bruce Banner. The group remained on the run, always one step ahead of SHIELD operatives due to information given to them by SHIELD agent and the niece of Peggy Carter, Sharon. However, after time travelers arrived from 2039 to give information about the upcoming war with Thanos, Steve was contacted by Tony and the two more or less agreed to work together. Steve and the Secret Avengers helped defend the world from a second Chitauri Invasion Force, and also protected the Vision and the Mind Stone. However, Thanos was still able to eventually secure the stone. Steve accompanied all of Earth's heroes into orbit to face Thanos in a final showdown, and was one of the last surviving heroes to witness Thanos' ascent into godhood upon completing the Infinity Gauntlet. This action, though, caused the Gauntlet to fall into the hands of Adam Warlock, which eventually saw Thanos' final defeat. Following this, Steve agreed to once again lead the Avengers as Tony resigned from SHIELD and retired, the two officially burying the hatchet. Alternate Timeline In the Alternate Timeline of 2039, Steve died fighting Thanos with a completed Infinity Gauntlet, the last hero to fall at the Mad Titan's hands before he "snapped" half of the Earth's population into dust. Steve's image was later used for propaganda purposes by businessman turned dictator Norman Osborn in his attempts to solidify his power over a despotic United States. Powers & Abilities * Super Soldier Serum: Rogers has been enhanced to the peak of physical conditioning for a human being. As a result, Rogers has enhanced strength, agility, reflexes, durability and speed, at least on par with a normal Asgardian. Rogers' durability and regenerative healing capabilities are especially clear, as he survived being frozen in suspended animation for over 70 years thanks to the serum in his cells. * Combat Training: In the course of both his military training and further study, Rogers has become one of the foremost physical combatants in the world, able to go toe to toe with Taskmaster on an even keel throughout. * Mental Acuity: The Super Soldier Serum also granted Rogers a high degree of mental acuity, including a photographic memory as well as increased hand-eye coordination. * Vibranium Shield: Though he is not currently in possession of it, Rogers' main weapon is a shield constructed out of Vibranium. The unique properties of this metal make the Shield nigh indestructible and also capable of being thrown in a ricochet pattern to take out multiple targets at once. Weaknesses Rogers' strong sense of morality is one of his defining characteristics, to the point of almost obtuse, black/white thinking in terms of how the world works. Nick Fury once said that Rogers was a "Boy Scout" who saw the world for how he wished it would be, not how it was. Despite this, Rogers' sense of duty also came into play when making decisions, and he would always try to save lives rather than take them. He does have a blind spot when it comes to his best friend, James Buchanan Barnes, even to the point of risking himself and others to save him. He also lacks a good amount of modern technical acuity, having grown up in the early 20th century. Film Details Rogers has appeared in the following films within the Earth-11584 continuity. In all cases he is portrayed by actor Chris Evans. * Black Widow (2010) seen in a post-credits scene * Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) * The Avengers (2012) * Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) * Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) * Captain America: Civil War (2016) * Iron Man 4 (2016) only * Spectacular Spider-Man (2017) only * Avengers: Infinity War (2018) * Captain Marvel (2018) only * Avengers: Infinity (2019) only * Avengers: Infinity Gauntlet (2019) Category:Earth-11584 Category:Earth-11584 Characters Category:Good Characters Category:SHIELD members